Performing Arts Reviews:
2008–2022

Billy Elliot The musical is set in the North east of England in the tumultuous years of 1984/1985. This was the time of Margaret Thatcher’s Government’s confrontation with the National Union of Mineworkers and the torrid events that resulted from a nationwide miner’s strike. Lee Hall the creator of the Book and Lyrics of the show, talks about his own childhood, growing up in Newcastle and discovering through poetry at school that he dreamt of being a writer and “that he decided that he needed to go somewhere that writers went and so I set my heart on Cambridge. And…

Several years ago I regarded the best THEATRE company in Australia was The Australian Opera Company. This was when Moffat Oxenbould was at the helm. The reason I thought of the Opera Company as the best theatre company was because of its daring commitment to new work. The chance of failure was enormous. To commission new work and then to mount it was a great risk and endeavour. Especially an Opera, the costs (Size of cast, chorus, orchestra, set, costumes, crew) let alone the possibility of failure were prohibitive but they had the courage to do it. I saw work…

  This is a new play that has been nurtured by the Riverside production arm called BREAKOUT. (Robert Love and Camilla Rountree). It had a workshop season at Riverside last year. The play is set in a suburban gymnasium where are group of old friends, CODGERS, meet, exercise, have a community sing in the sauna and then a follow up chin wag out on the terrace with a cup of coffee and home made savoury biscuits (cheese and chutney). The action of the play passes over several weeks. It is a two act conventionally constructed entertainment with a great deal…

To go to the theatre on a Friday night after a week of mentally and emotionally charged work can be a very testing choice. I arrived at Carriageworks a little tired and more than jaded. When I left the Carriageworks after the performance I had been stimulated back to a very alert and maybe even rapturous state of being. Such can be the power of art. The Bland Project was initially developed in 2006 through a Critical Path residency at the Drill hall. Now after a two year further development it is been performed at Performance Space. “Performance Space animates…

ATYP in its vision statement sets out “To be the leading Australian youth theatre, inspiring and nurturing imagination, confidence and creativity in young people across the country.” In pursuing that endeavour Tim Jones has invited Meryl Tankard to work with a group of young people on VX 18504 and for Ms Tankard it is a re-visit to a work she created some time ago. It was an opportunity to re-imagine VX 18504 through the experiences of young people. VX 18504 was the army service number of Meryl Tankard’s father. The performance examined the theme of conflict in society from the…

I read this play maybe nine months ago. It is so beautiful to read (in this magnificent translation). I shall quote some excerpts… “I have a baby in my belly. Wahab! My belly is full of you. My belly is full of you. You see? Isn’t it amazing? It’s magnificent and horrible, isn’t it? It’s an abyss. And it’s like freedom to wild birds, isn’t it? And there are no more words. Just the wind! I have a child in my belly. When I heard Elhame tell me, an ocean exploded in my head. Seared.” Some more : “I’m leaving,…